Poulton-le-Fylde railway station
Poulton-le-Fylde  | |
|---|---|
|
Poulton-le-Fylde station sign in 2013 | |
| Location | |
| Place | Poulton-le-Fylde |
| Local authority | Wyre |
| Coordinates | 53°50′54″N 2°59′26″W / 53.8484°N 2.9906°WCoordinates: 53°50′54″N 2°59′26″W / 53.8484°N 2.9906°W |
| Grid reference | SD349395 |
| Operations | |
| Station code | PFY |
| Managed by | Northern |
| Number of platforms | 2 |
| DfT category | E |
|
Live arrivals/departures, station information and onward connections from National Rail Enquiries | |
| Annual rail passenger usage* | |
| 2010/11 |
 0.418 million |
| 2011/12 |
0.449 million |
| 2012/13 |
0.459 million |
| 2013/14 |
0.481 million |
| 2014/15 |
0.509 million |
| History | |
| 15 July 1840 | Original station opened |
| 1896 | New station on realigned route |
| National Rail – UK railway stations | |
| * Annual estimated passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Poulton-le-Fylde from Office of Rail and Road statistics. Methodology may vary year on year. | |
 UK Railways portal | |
Poulton-le-Fylde railway station serves the town of Poulton-le-Fylde in Lancashire, England. It is managed by Northern, but also served by Virgin Trains.
History
The original station was about 400 yards (400 m) north-east of the current location, at “The Breck”.[1] The railway to the fishing town of Fleetwood passed along a straight line east of the town. From 1846, there was a junction to Blackpool just north of the station, with tight connecting curves facing either way. In 1893 a fatal accident occurred when a train took the curve too fast.[2][3] Subsequently, in 1896, the tracks were realigned to follow a much gentler westward curve to Blackpool, with the new station halfway along the curve. The Fleetwood branch then curved to the east to rejoin the original alignment. The old station continued to be used as a goods station until 1968.[4]
Passenger services to Fleetwood were withdrawn by British Rail on 1 June 1970 during railway restructuring, although a freight service continued to the ICI plant at Burn Naze Halt until 1999. The line is still extant, (albeit in a rusty & overgrown state and officially marked out of use). Since June 2006, there have been plans to restore (and preserve) the passenger rail link towards Fleetwood via Thornton & Cleveleys, as a heritage railway; a £30,000 feasibility study is needed to be undertaken to explore the re-instatement of the link and the addition of a third platform at Poulton-le-Fylde.[5]
Services
The station is now served by trains to and from Blackpool North and towards Manchester Piccadilly and Manchester Airport; Manchester Victoria and to York via Blackburn and Leeds.[6] All southbound routes have a basic hourly frequency; services to and from Hazel Grove via Manchester Piccadilly & Stockport also call during the morning & evening peak periods. Virgin Trains operates one train on weekdays between London Euston and Blackpool North.[7]
Sundays see hourly services to Manchester Airport, Manchester Victoria, Liverpool Lime Street and York. The station is also served by a single DalesRail service to Carlisle via Settle during the summer months and to Hellifield (for onward travel to Settle & Carlisle) for the remainder of the year.
Grand Central has been given permission to run six trains a day from London to Blackpool North from 2018, which will call at Poulton-le-Fylde.[8] The London terminus will be either Euston or Queen's Park, depending on network capacity during planned infrastructural work to the West Coast Mainline.[8] Additional intermediate stations at which the service will stop are also dependent upon future capacity.[8]
First TransPennine Express used to run the service from Manchester Airport to Blackpool North but this was passed on to the new Northern franchise on the 1st April 2016.
Notes
- ↑ Mitchell & Hartley, p.59
- ↑ Welch, p.27
- ↑ Suggitt, p.38
- ↑ Suggitt, pp.37–38
- ↑ "£30,000 feasibility study for Poulton to Fleetwood line could go ahead" (PDF). Railway Herald (239). 2010-09-20. p. 15. Retrieved 2010-09-21.
- ↑ Table 41 & 82 National Rail timetable, May 2016
- ↑ Table 65 National Rail timetable, May 2016
- 1 2 3 Topham, Gwyn. "Virgin has a rival: GNWR to run London to Blackpool west coast rail service". The Guardian. Retrieved 7 August 2015.
References
- Mitchell, L. & Hartley, S. (2005) "Lancashire Historic Town Survey—Poulton-le-Fylde" (PDF). (19.1 MiB), Lancashire County Council Environment Directorate, accessed 30 October 2007
- Suggitt, G. (2003, revised 2004) Lost Railways of Lancashire, Countryside Books, Newbury, ISBN 1-85306-801-2
- Welch, M.S. (2004) Lancashire Steam Finale, Runpast Publishing, Cheltenham, ISBN 1-870754-61-1
External links
 |
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Poulton-le-Fylde railway station. |
| Maps showing Poulton-le-Fylde (old) Station |
| Vision of Britain —select 19th Century: OS 1st Series |
| OS 1:2500 Map on MARIO (about 1892) |
| OS 1:10000 Map on MARIO (about 1848) |
| Other maps |
- Train times and station information for Poulton-le-Fylde railway station from National Rail
- Blackpool & Fylde Rail Users’ Association—Poulton, accessed 17 October 2007
- Poulton & Wyre Railway Society, working towards restoring the passenger rail link to Fleetwood.